Love that green! Gorgeous bed of greens too. Note to self, plant fall greens next August. Susan, you will crack up. I have a postit on the wall of my office that says, "Sept 11, plant fall greens garden, per Susan." Isn't that funny? Unfortunately, I didn't see it until today, argh! Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Thanks for sharing those gorgeous photos!

Hi Cary,Ha, that is funny. And don't feel bad; most years I never get my fall greens planted on time - or at all, lol. If it hasn't turned really cold yet, or you have some kind of basic tunnel or hoop house or greenhouse (you'll need the ground to still have some warmth to it for germination), you can still direct seed some lettuce or arugula. Both are cold tolerant and mature very quickly. Baby arugula can go from seed to salad bowl in less than a month. :)

That greens box nearly makes me drool. How can I have that here? The rabbits would be bold and I would be mad!! I have no guard dogs and cats. :( I really want to try...but struggle to get to my strawberries first...so I won't hold my breath. We got our first solid frost last night, too... (Chris in IN)

Hi Chris,It's always somebody trying to ruin or eat our greens, isn't it? :) We have a lot of rabbits, but Mr. Midnight is an ace rabbit catcher. What I have trouble with when direct seeding are the sneaky hens who squeeze through the once section of garden fence that isn't totally chicken proof and scratch up newly planted beds. Or Mr. Midnight, while in there hunting rabbits, scratches them up, lol. Then there's the mole who made tunnels all across the bed adjacent to that one.

What I do is cover the beds with floating row cover (I love this stuff) as soon as I seed and water them. And I cover them up at night.

The only thing you need to be careful of is frying the plants when the weather is really warm and humid. I learned that the hard way last spring when I tried to protect a whole bed full of gorgeous lettuce from the blazing sun and heat (which makes lettuce bitter), and ended up turning the whole thing to mush instead.

Here in Missouri, late summer planting for fall usually works out well. This morning it was 24 degrees and I left that bed uncovered. Everything was frozen solid first thing this morning, but after the sun hit it you'd never know. If I'd covered the bed with row cover last night, it would have been less stressed and in even better shape.

Another option is to build some really tall raised beds. I have a friend who swears by them. Besides not having to bend over, you apparently don't have to deal with nearly as many insects. And unless the rabbits are really good jumpers, it would keep them out too. ;)

Love seeing the green for a change. We (in the Dakotas) went straight from brown grass to brown dirt. On July 1st I gave up the ghost and quit watering and we have a nice crop of dead grass and dust to show for it. But the ground was like a sponge and it was pointless to keep watering because it was just baked out during the day. But just remember, everyone, this was only one year. We may have two or three more years just like it, which is really still mild compared to the dirty thirties. Hope and pray we don't go THERE ever again. (The dirty thirties was essentially a man-made disaster).

Hi Susan,It appears as if you were able to salvage some hay from your own land after all. Were you able to grow enough to see you through the winter or will you have to buy from an outside source? Thanks! Tracy

Hi Tracy,Back in August, when we had no idea if it would ever start raining again and the fields were still totally burned up, we broke down and bought some really expensive alfalfa hay to feed the sheep and donkeys this winter. If we were really frugal with it (and supplemented with extra grain, the price of which is also going through the roof), it would probably have been enough to last until April or May, which is when the fields are usually grown up enough to start grazing again.

We hoped we would be able to cut some of our own hay in late summer or early fall but weren't sure. Thankfully it rained enough for the grass to grow and we did. Despite cutting nearly the entire hayfield, we only ended up with a small fraction of the hay we would normally get from it, but it's definitely better than nothing. We're thrilled, and in a few months, I'm sure the critters will be too! :)

Hi Susan,So glad you're feeling better, the heat is gone, your grass is green, and you're getting some hay. Hopefully winter will be good to everyone. Enjoying the photos (especially Moonrise over the Hayfield from your last post) and I always enjoy seeing your critters.

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

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I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

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